The Truth and some Lies about Travel Blogging

Toronto Skyline Sunset

Travel blogging, yeah. It’s not for everyone, I know that for sure. The real question here is, why do you write travel blogs or better put it this way, why do you travel and blog? Simple enough, right? Nope! Everybody have a reason why they write, then publish their travel blogs and some have their very own “reasons” or “lies” why they travel and blog about it.

They’ve often said that they QUIT their jobs to travel and blog. Is it True or false? True that they quit their jobs but unfortunate because how long do you think they can survive without a source of income when the FOC’s are all used up and gone? In their travel blogs, do they have Adsense, affiliates or sponsors? Chances are they do, but is it enough to survive on their continuous travels? You have to pay for your flight/fares, pay for transport, sleep at hotels and eat at restaurants. Is it sustainable to really quit your job? No way, maybe find another job online or in the real world to be able to afford it and travel again, truth or dare? You tell me.

The truth and the real reason that I blog is to keep a record or journal of my past, present and future travels, fair enough? Right and mainly because I blog for leisure and not for financial gain. For me, blogging is a passion; like a hobby and I don’t rely on my “travel blog” as a source of income or even second income for that matter, since I already have an income to rely on monthly for the basic necessities in life. I can certainly monetize my blog but why bother for now, maybe when I need a second income, I will do just that.

I’ve worked so hard and have some savings for my travel expenses whenever I get the chance to take a vacation from work and also prepare for my future retirement. Yes, during our time as Baby boomers, we worked hard and worked our butts off, for what? For lots of reasons and for so many things in life, i.e. like buy a house or a condo, buy a car, travel and meet your soulmate along the way, get married, have kids and live the circle of life. It may sound mundane and a bit boring but that’s what life is all about.

Compare that to the other generations, like Gen-X or the Millennials for example. We have kids in our circle of friends who are Millennials. They are lucky that their parents are Baby boomers who are well off and hard workers. Most of these young people belong to the Fall of the infamous wall street and the deep recession of the 21st century.

When the economy recovered, they were out of luck, out of jobs and burdened with student loans taller than themselves. I’d refer to them as an unfortunate but lucky generation. Unfortunate because they can’t get jobs even if they have college degrees. There’s simply no jobs available anywhere unless they create it and become Entrepreneurs themselves. Lucky because they have mostly well-to-do baby boomer parents who have allowed them to live at home for now and support them while looking for jobs. The Gen-X’ers couldn’t wait to fly off the coup as soon as they were ready to face what’s out there waiting for them, be it jobs, people to live with as roommates or just go out in the world to live their very own lives to the fullest, as the cliché goes.

Back to travel blogs, sometimes the real truth hurts no matter how you splice it, the outcome still hurts so bad. Lies, bitter ones that sting so badly and why do they lie so much about it? Perhaps to console themselves or to pretend and make believe that travel blogging really pays off is somewhat ‘fake news’. Maybe some of them try to hide their failures in life with colorful “lies”.

Yeah, some bloggers are creative with popular sponsors and have great talents in choice of good paying ads and affiliates. That’s how they make enough money online. Maybe a few or some can make the cut, it’s a sad story but let’s be real. Travel vloggers on Youtube probably make more money in ads and patreonship, than travel bloggers who are somewhat successful in their own ways.

Some of us, travel bloggers really have to work for a living, then travel and blog about it. These are the “realistic” ones who knew all along that life is not a bed of roses and there’s no such thing as “FREE lunch” anymore. So let’s be real for once. With all of that said and done, I rest my case.

Oly is the travel blogger, documentarian on lakbaypilipinas.ca, also a writer-poet, photographer and artist whose work constitutes a blog-documentary in many aspects of life, people, places, arts, culture and traditions, even architecture. It's about trips at home and abroad, also flashbacks of trips on years gone by, reminiscing memorable experiences then back to the future and now, all these in the new blog. You will see, hear and read about the travels, feasting on foods around the globe, meeting people in places that she visits and sharing their traditions and goodwill, who visits countries that others only dream about and who wants to share with you all of her experiences never to be forgotten in this lifetime. From her old hometown to her new home she will marvel you with stories, and show you how small the whole world really is; if you love to travel. Now, let's start that wonderful journey together.